Climate Climate & Energy
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Environmental problems to displace millions, experts say
By 2050, some 200 million people will be displaced by environmental problems, including climate change, experts warned at this week’s Environment, Forced Migration, and Social Vulnerability conference in Germany. “All indicators show that we are dealing with a major emerging global problem,” said Janos Bogardi of the Institute on the Environment and Human Security. “The […]
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Bogus offsets merely ease emitter’s remorse
I’m going to (try to) coin a new term here, “rip-offsets,” since I can’t think of a better word for the rip-off offsets the Chicago Climate Exchange is peddling to a gullible public and media. The Washington Post has a front-page story, “There’s a Gold Mine In Environmental Guilt Carbon-Offset Sales Brisk Despite Financial Crisis,” […]
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Various and sundry smart people debunk the ‘clean coal’ nonsense
Lots of great stuff on The Enemy of the Human Race available today. Kate mentioned CNN’s segment on Coal River Mountain, where a crucial battle over mountaintop removal mining is playing out. Really a must-watch. Also on CNN, an excellent commentary from Jeff Biggers, making the point that Appalachians themselves have made peace with the […]
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Is 450 ppm (or less) politically possible? Part 7
No, 450 is not politically possible today. Nor is 550. Nor is action sufficient to stave off 1,000 ppm and 6°C warming. OK, that was clear before because congressional conservatives can certainly block the necessary action and demagogue the energy price issue — and they obviously intend to. But I think the financial bailout bill […]
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A summary of the role of energy efficiency in last night’s debate
Squat. UPDATE: Okay, to be completely fair, in response to the question about how the candidates would ask Americans to sacrifice, Obama said this: But each and every one of us can start thinking about how can we save energy in our homes, in our buildings. And one of the things I want to do […]
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My worries about PHVs have mostly abated
In my post last fall on Rob Lowe’s plug-in hybrid, I argued that in the absence of a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, switching to plug-in hybrids might actually be worse for the climate than just switching to regular hybrids. I no longer believe that. Electric vehicles are winners for the climate in the Northwest. […]
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Savvy citizen asks the right question about climate change at debate
Thank heavens for the “average citizen.” After approximately 4 million debates over the past year, someone finally asked the right and real question about climate change. Ingrid Jackson, over in Section C of the audience in Tuesday night’s debate, didn’t ask if the candidates thought global warming was real, and she didn’t even ask what […]
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Debate Video: Obama on energy independence
Obama on energy in tonight’s debate:
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Two new pieces delve into the denial industry
If you are interested in the climate change denial industry, you need to check out two crucial new pieces, which are running in conjunction. First, the American News Project’s "Smoke and CO2: How to Spin Global Warming," which highlights the the historical links between the effort to deny tobacco science and the effort to deny […]
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How current GHG policy distorts capital allocation
As we think about how to price GHG emissions, it’s often (and accurately) cited that having a meaningful conversation about GHG pricing first requires that we remove all the existing subsidies so that we can stop irrationally allocating capital. Clearly, we can’t provide insurance liability waivers to nuclear and ratepayer guarantees to regulated utilities and […]
